The Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Thomas Tayebwa has warned
legislators not to discuss information being disclosed or unearthed during Committees investigations before the final report is presented and adopted on the floor of the House.
In his communication at the start of this afternoon plenary sitting,
Tayebwa showed dissatisfaction with the conduct of some of the Members of Parliament whom he said have been making comments about the ongoing probe on the operations of Uganda National Airlines.
The Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State
Enterprises (COSASE) is currently scrutinizing the Auditor General’s
report for the financial year 2020/21 on the operations of the national carrier.
However, the spotlight has been on the company’s Chief Executive
Officer, Jennifer Bamutaraki with the committee tearing into her academic qualifications having confessed that she does not possess her Bachelors Degree transcript since 1994 when she reportedly
graduated from Makerere University.
Because of the ongoing wide coverage of the COSASE investigations,
some legislators have reportedly made public statements against the
process especially on the treatment of the Uganda Airlines boss.
Tayebwa guided that legislators who have issues with the way the
Committees are conducting business and they are in anyway contravening
Article 90 of the Constitution and Rule 208 of the Rules of Procedure,
to instead of making public utterances, they should report to the leadership of the House.
“If you have an issue with the conduct of the committee, this House
has leadership. I want to caution those interfering with how we are doing our work, calling and threatening the Committees. We shall not
allow anything to interfere with our work.” Tayebwa guided.
He said that those who feel the Committees have made excesses in
carrying out their works should not go to the media but instead report to
the office of the Speaker or the relevant Party Whips. He added that legislators have a role to play in protecting the image of the August
House.
“I argue you colleagues to protect the image of this Parliament and next time please don’t force us to invoke the Rules of Procedure.Colleagues even when you are in the committees, conduct business in a
manner that protects the image of Parliament” he said.
Bubulo East legislator, John Musila who had been quoted as accusing
the COSASE of corruption, rose to apologise to the House after the
Deputy Speaker had guided on the need for MPs to protect the image of
the House.
Musila informed Parliament that he had appeared on talk show on one of
the Television Stations in Kampala but insisted that his statements were misrepresented on the social media channels of the media house while translating it from Luganda to English.
“I stand on self confession. It is good that you have guided. I don’t caution the integrity of this House where I am a member. I don’t caution the integrity of COSASE. I had a program on NBS in Luganda and
I don’t know whether what I said is what was put in English. I wish to
stand here to apologize if they hurt the Committee and the MPs” said
Musila.
Ndorwa East MP Wilfred Niwagaba also told his colleagues to always
examine the provisions of Rule 216 (2) of the Rules of Procedure before going out to divulge details of evidence and documents that is adduced before the Committees of Parliament.
“It is important that when the matter is still under investigation, I would implore members to try and avoid going to the media” said Niwagaba who is also the shadow Attorney General.
The Deputy Speaker then informed Parliament that together with
Speaker Anita Among, they plan to meet the leadership of the Sectoral and Standing Committees to chat a way forward on how they will conduct their business without tainting the image of the Legislature.
On Monday, Pricilla Mirembe, the Board Chairperson of Uganda Airlines wrote to COSASE Chairman Joel Ssenyonyi requesting that the subsequent proceedings with the entity be closed to the press in order to limit
the damage to the aviation industry.